Rail passengers have voted South West Trains (SWT) as one of the best train companies in London and the South East of England.

The company, which runs the line between Reading and London Waterloo via Wokingham and Bracknell, scored 82 per cent in overall customer satisfaction according to Transport Focus' National Rail Passenger Survey for Spring 2016.

The overall satisfaction percentage marked a two per cent year-on-year increase.

Satisfaction with SWT services was four per cent higher than the average for train operators in London and the South East and there were improved or maintained satisfaction scores in 30 of the 37 categories.

More than £50million is being invested by SWT to improve the service offered to passengers.

The improvements include the launch of a new website and app, extra car parking, 100 new customer ambassadors to provide a more personalised service at stations, and state-of-the-art ticket machines linked to a new dedicated 24/7 customer contact centre.

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Ticket buying facilities – satisfaction up by 5 per cent to 80 per cent

Frequency of trains – up by 3 per cent

Value for money – up by 5 per cent

Sufficient room for passengers to sit/stand – up by 3 per cent

Availability of on-train staff – satisfaction up by 3 per cent

Helpfulness and attitude of on-train staff – 14 per cent higher than the sector average

"More work to do"

Arthur Pretorius, customer service director for SWT said: "It’s great to see passengers responding positively to the hard work of our staff and the investments we are making to improve the journeys of our customers.

"We run one of the busiest rail networks in Europe and overall have one of the most reliable train services in the London and South East region.

"But we know there is more work to do. That's why we are continuing our £50m investment programme at stations and on our trains, as well as working with the government and Network Rail to tackle overcrowding and improve the track and signalling infrastructure on our network."

In partnership with Network Rail, South West Trains will also be delivering some of the biggest improvements on the network in decades which will boost peak-time capacity by 30 per cent by May 2018.

The plans include a £210m fleet of new trains to be introduced from 2017 and major improvements to London Waterloo, Europe’s busiest station.